FOOD CRISIS HITS GOVT HOSPITAL

MBABANE – Patients admitted to the Mbabane Government Hospital are being fed apples and juice as the health facility has run out of food.

The situation is so dire such that the patients and those looking after them have been complaining bitterly about the state of affairs. The shortage of food follows that the company contracted to provide and prepare food for the patients has not been fully paid by government. As such, it has been struggling to cope with the high demand of the various food items that are required by the patients.

It could not be ascertained how much government paid to the company each month. Yesterday morning during a visit to the hospital, patients in some of the wards were not given their bread and tea, while others received it. At lunchtime, all the patients, even those with special diets, were given rice and minced meat. In the afternoon when they were supposed to be given bread and tea again, they were given an apple and juice in all the wards. Some of the patients and their relatives confirmed that they did not receive food like they normally did. They, however, explained that nothing was communicated to them about the sudden change in their diet, though they heard from the grapevine that government had not paid the catering company.

The hospital kitchen was also visited and the staff was found moving in and out, and they were heard talking among themselves that they were told there was no money to buy food. One relative was found carrying plastic bags from one of the supermarkets in town, with cooked food, supposedly to give to her sick mother. She stated that her mother could not afford to be hungry because the medication she was taking was written that it must be taken after meals. Other male patients expressed their anger, stating that they were men who needed to eat balanced food for them to recover.

Some of the patients on special diet are not allowed to eat red meat, while minced meat is made from red meat. Some of the interviewed patients who had no one looking after them, said they were stressed as their healing process would take long. 

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